CONNECT WITH US
May 19
Chipmakers rejoice as Googlebook entry heats up AI PC race
Google's announcement for the upcoming Googlebook, which tightly integrates Gemini features, signals that it is no longer limiting its PC strategy to the Chromebook line and is pushing into a higher-end product tier in the AI PC era. Chipmakers, including Intel on the x86 side and Qualcomm and MediaTek on the Arm side, are also joining the race, further intensifying competition in the AI PC market.
Quanta Cloud Technology announced that its subsidiary QMN purchased a 10-year right-of-use asset for a California facility lease for US$61.71 million to support expanding manufacturing capacity for AI servers and other operations in the US. The transaction was disclosed as part of the firm's ongoing expansion of US manufacturing, where the company has grown its California campus to more than 20 buildings.
Taiwan's cabinet announced plans to expand public spending on AI and other strategic industries to protect the island's high-tech manufacturing lead, strengthen economic security and stimulate domestic demand, the premier said at a government press conference on May 19 in Taipei. The initiative includes 13 designated strategic industries, each to receive a flagship project, and a set of 10 major AI construction projects scheduled to begin in 2026.
Tatung announced at the IEEE PES T&D 2026 exhibition in Chicago that it has expanded its North American footprint with a mix of large-transformer contracts and mass-production orders for the US renewables and data-center markets. The company said it secured a 345 kV order for a US renewable energy site with delivery slated for mid-2027 and additional solar project orders that will ship between 2026 and 2027, positioning Tatung as a supplier across both long-cycle and fast-turn segments.
Anthropic said it hired a high-profile AI researcher who will join its pretraining team to accelerate large-language-model pretraining research using Claude, as announced in May 2026. The hire came as Anthropic disclosed a compute rental agreement to use SpaceX-linked resources from xAI's Colossus 1 data center in Memphis, Tennessee, and followed earlier talent additions, the company stated.
Commentary: China hardens AI self-reliance push after Trump-Xi talks
May 20, 10:41
After the Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, China's senior leadership has stepped up inspections of artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing and computing infrastructure, offering a clear signal of where Beijing wants its technology policy to move over the next three years.

Tesla remains a bellwether for humanoid robots, but its delayed production timeline is prompting Taiwanese suppliers to reassess where near-term opportunities may emerge in the robotics supply chain.

E Ink Holdings showcased color e-paper digital photo frames, monitors, smartphone-sized readers, and lifestyle products at Computex 2026, which opened on June 2 in Taipei, aiming to push e-paper into homes, offices, and personal spaces. The exhibit presented devices that use the E Ink Spectra 6 color e-paper technology to deliver vivid, paper-like visuals with no backlight and low power consumption.
Governments are losing the race against AI. That is the blunt assessment of Nicole Quinn, vice president of policy and government affairs for Asia-Pacific at Palo Alto Networks. Policy moves too slowly, she argues, and overly rigid rules only make things worse.

Taiwan has opened a new robotics R&D center in southern Taiwan, aiming to help local manufacturers move beyond component supply and into higher-value robotics systems as automation demand spreads across healthcare, logistics, food service, and public safety.

U-leam said LEO satellites will remain its primary growth engine for the next few years, while quantum computing, medical devices, robotics, and drones will form the company's second wave of expansion. The firm reported full-year 2025 revenue of NT$5.88 billion (US$185.58 million), a 52% gross margin, operating profit of NT$233 million, and earnings per share of NT$4.69. It disclosed that about 90% of current revenue came from a single LEO satellite customer.
Anthropic acquired developer tools startup Stainless and shut down its public SDK generator, removing an automated API-to-SDK workflow used by major AI providers and forcing rivals to absorb engineering costs to rebuild or migrate their tooling, the firm announced, and reports confirmed. The acquisition price was not disclosed, though The Information reported the deal exceeded US$300 million.